Home values across the country are up. In the Seattle metro area, property prices have increased by more than 15 percent from one year ago, based on figures from Zillow, an online real estate company, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal. The region’s median home value in July was $302,600, up 2.3 percent from June and up 15.3 percent from July 2012.

Based on figures from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, The Seattle Times reports the following housing data:

The median price of single-family homes sold in King County in July climbed to $434,000, up 15 percent from a year ago and up 1.5 percent from June. The number of pending homes sales hovered above 3,000, the most since 2005.

In Snohomish County, the median home price was $304,000, almost 12 percent higher than a year ago.

Pierce County posted a 16 percent increase at a median home price of $195,000.

For King County, bank-owned homes made up just 9 percent of sales in 2013, compared to 14 percent last year, according to Richard Eastern of Bellevue-based Washington Property Solutions. Short sales comprised 13 percent of this year’s sales. Southwest King County had the lowest median price at $248,500, while the Eastside boasted the highest at $566,258.

Cash buyers continue to account for a fair portion of the market. Nearly 23 percent of June home sales in Greater Seattle were non-mortgaged purchases, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. Seattle’s real estate market continues to outpace the nation’s home appreciation rate of 6 percent with a median property value of $161,600.

As mortgage rates slowly increase, so do loan origination fees. USA Today reports that loan-origination and other fees went up 6 percent in the last year to a national average of $2,402 on a $200,000 single-family mortgage loan to a customer with stellar credit and 20 percent down, based on data from Bankrate.com. The reason for the parallel rise in rates and fees is two-fold. First, higher rates mean less profit on the money loaned. To compensate for the loss in profit, lenders attempt to make up the difference in fees. Second, the work required in underwriting loans is greater today than it has been in the past, thereby increasing costs. Bankrate’s 2013 survey indicates that Hawaii averages the highest closing costs at $2,912 for a mortgage of $200,000 (excluding taxes, title fees, property insurance, association fees, interest, and other prepaid items). In contrast, Washington has one of the lowest in the nation at $2,208. – See more at: http://dustinkeeth.info/#sthash.LtCW2P5e.dpuf

The front porch is a vestige of an older, simpler way of life when families sat outside and neighbors visited with one another. Once a place for relaxation, the front porch faded in popularity due to an evolving modern life that brought about air conditioning and backyard decks, according to www.houzz.com. But the architectural feature is making a strong comeback.

There’s no easier way to add square footage to your home than to maximize the transition areas outside your property. Households can utilize the porch for additional entertaining space or for solitude. Need some inspiration? Check out Better Homes and Gardens for style ideas.

Diane Foreman, a design consultant with Neil Kelly Co. notes that the porch is, at minimum, a transitional space between the home’s exterior and interior. But the porch is also a holding place of “intangibles,” sensory experiences and memories about childhood, grandparents, and neighbors.

Seattle Times writer Tyrone Beason sums it up this way:

“The duality of the front porch is intriguing. It is a part of the house and yet it is a part of the streetscape. It is a private space but, then again, there’s nothing private about it. You can watch the world go by there — but the world can also watch you.”

Beason reminds us that a well used and aesthetically appealing front porch adds valuable space to homeowners and curb appeal to the home, which can increase the overall value of the property.

Sales of existing homes throughout the U.S. rose 2.3 percent in July from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.47 million, reports the Seattle Times . In the Puget Sound area, sales rose 11 percent in July.

More homeowners are opting to install automated technology systems in their houses today than in years past, based on the State of the Builder Technology Market Study . Energy solutions and entertainment systems are among the most popular upgrades for new construction. Energy-management solutions (e.g

Generation Y, the Millennials, and Echo Boomers refer to individuals between the ages of 17 and 31, and they are 62 million strong in the U.S. alone, reports the National Association of Realtors in a recent news release. Echo Boomers represent significant buying power, according to the 2011 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.